US equity indexes fell this week as the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge jumped more than forecast and President Donald Trump unveiled 25% tariffs on automobile imports, igniting concern that price pressures could worsen.

The S&P 500 closed at 5,580.94 on Friday, versus 5,667.56 a week earlier. The Nasdaq Composite stood at 17,322.99 compared with 17,784.05 a week prior. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 41,583.90 end-of-play, versus 41,985.35 a week ago.

Except Tesla, all the other Magnificent 7 stocks were down for the week. On Wednesday, Trump unveiled a 25% tariff on all imports of cars and light trucks, effective April 3. Before that, Scotiabank noted an "expedited move to impose a 25% tariff on copper imports into the US that could be implemented within weeks and hence on a much shorter timeline than previously understood."

Then, on April 2, Trump will unveil reciprocal tariffs. The tariffs unveiled on new cars and parts and reciprocal tariffs coming next week will "add upside risks to inflation and downside risks to growth," Morgan Stanley said. "If permanent, the announced auto tariffs might add 20-30 basis points to 2025 inflation."

February's core personal consumption expenditures price index rose to 2.8% year-over-year from January's 2.7%, the Bloomberg consensus for February. Sequentially, the core measure rose to 0.4% from January's 0.3% gain, the pace estimated by analysts for February. Meanwhile, personal consumption expenditures rose 0.4% in February after declining 0.3% the month before, lagging the Bloomberg-polled consensus for a higher spending growth rate of 0.5%.

"The subdued rise in spending in February confirms that real consumption growth is on track for sub-1% annualized growth in (the first quarter)," Oxford Economics Deputy Chief US Economist Michael Pearce said.

Gold futures were up 0.8% to $3,113.42 late Friday, after making a fresh intraday all-time high of $3,124.40.

US stock futures are pointing to a lower open today.

Portfolio News

Active Trading Portfolio: NOTE: We will AVOID all active short term trades until we get past tariff liberation day on April 2nd. It is impossible to gauge risk at this point on a short term basis so best to stay out of the market. Check Out the Active Trading Portfolio.
Option Trading Portfolio:
- Possible New Trades:
  - SPY: We started the SPY April 17th $560/$550 ratio Put spread last Thursday. Today we will roll out and down half of teh $550 short puts to the May $530 expiry and strike.
  - EUR.USD Futures Options: We're eyeing the EUR/USD and contemplating selling the 1.12 April Calls on the EUR/USD June futures!
    Check Out the Option Trading portfolio.
Buy and Hold Portfolio: Our long-term buy-and-hold portfolio is performing strongly, achieving a 0.4% year-to-date gain. Not bad when you consider the fact that the S&P 500 is down almost 11% from its highs recently. We will notify Pro and Premium members via WhatsApp immediately upon making new purchases. We have identified over 14 potential stocks for investment once the current sell-off concludes, but we will delay any new acquisitions until after the April 2nd retaliatory tariffs are implemented. Check out out the Buy and Hold Portfolio.